Simon Hawke - The Timekeeper Conspiracy

"The Luxembourg!" said Finn.

Bennett frowned. "Yes, that's right. I thought you looked familiar. You were the men we passed on the stairs."

"Continue," Lucas said.

Bennett sighed. "Hunter was followed to the Luxembourg and killed there. Fortunately, Andre was not there at the time. On the other hand, if she was there, she might have prevented it. She's altogether a remarkable young woman. Well. At any rate, they must have staked out the hotel. When I received word that Hunter was in Paris and staying at the Luxembourg, I immediately went to see him. That was when I met Andre. By that time, Hunter was already dead and she was alone in the hotel with his body, not knowing how to dispose of it, who had killed him, or why he had been killed. I was seen going into the hotel, to Hunter's room. Naturally, the Timekeepers assumed I had betrayed them to the TIA and Silvera broke into the room with the intention of killing me and taking Andre prisoner. However, Andre managed to kill Silvera first." Bennett was reciting the story in a flat and weary tone of voice. "We had to smuggle both bodies out of the hotel-"

"That perfumed chest," said Finn.

"Yes," said Bennett.

"You passed us on the stairs and I thought I recognized Andre," Lucas said, "only I couldn't place her face. Of course, the last time that I saw her, she wasn't dressed as a woman. When I saw her as she is now, leaving Moreau's

Simon Hawke

The Timekeeper Conspiracy

Tavern, I recognized her, but I thought she was a man passing as a woman. Instead, it was the other way around!"

"You followed us to the Rue St. Honore?" Bennett said.

"That's right," said Finn. "When we saw you flashing that laser around-"

"You assumed I was a Timekeeper and that you had found the house where the chronoplate was being kept," Bennett finished for him. "You were almost right. However, I don't have my plate anymore. They took it from me. They have Hunter's plate, as well, but they don't know its fail-safe code. That's why they're after Andre. They don't realize that she's a displaced person and doesn't know how to operate it."

"And they want you dead because they think that you betrayed them to the agency," said Lucas.

"Kind of puts you in a tough spot, doesn't it?" said Finn. "As far as the agency team is concerned, you're with the Timekeepers. The Timekeepers think you've sold out to the agents. The question is, where do you stand?"

"Until a short while ago," said Bennett, "I stood with them. I'm against the time wars. That was why I joined the underground and it was why I became involved with the Temporal Preservation League."

"Then there is a connection between the league and the terrorists?" said Finn.

"Oh, yes. It's the most tenuous of connections, but it exists. I became convinced that the Timekeepers had a workable plan to bring pressure upon the Referee Corps to end the temporal conflicts."

"A timestream split is what you call a workable plan?" said Finn.

"That was only the announced intention," Bennett said. "The Timekeepers themselves never intended to bring about a split. The idea was to create adjustment situations throughout all of history, alerting the Referee Corps to each situation as it was created, so that they would be able to restore historical continuity, but at the price of extended manpower commitments, financial losses, and temporary historical instability."

"Interesting idea," Lucas said. "But surely you must have realized the chance that you were taking? Suppose one of those adjustment situations proved to be irreversible?"

"There was always that chance," said Bennett. "However, our aim was to conduct only the most controlled types of interference actions."

"What changed your mind?" said Finn.

"Adrian Taylor," Bennett said. "He's-"

"We know who Taylor is," said Lucas.

"Do you know that he's totally insane? That he is totally committed to creating a timestream split?"

"The agency is proceeding on that assumption," Lucas said.

"Then the TIA knows more than Taylor's own people do," said Bennett.

"Are you saying that the Timekeepers actually don't-"

"I told you what the plan was!" Bennett shouted. "But Taylor is uncontrollable! I became convinced of that when he killed the Countess de la Fere."

"But that's-"

"Milady de Winter," Bennett said. "Possibly the most important figure in this scenario. That was where my talents as a surgeon came in. I performed a transsexual operation upon Adrian Taylor. He is now Milady de Winter."

Finn put away his newly acquired laser. "Holy Christ," he said. "And Mongoose thought that one of the musketeers was an impostor."

"Ah, I see," said Bennett. "You followed Andre here and saw us in this house and you naturally assumed that D'Artagnan was a ringer. No, he's quite genuine, I assure you, as are the other musketeers. Moreau is an old friend of mine and he arranged this hiding place for me. Bonacieux owes him a favor. Bonacieux's name rang a bell with me, but what with everything that's been happening, I didn't put it all together until I arrived here and found out who his other tenant was. I was even toying with the idea of trying to get D'Artagnan to help me, until I realized how crazy it would be."

"Help you do what?" said Finn.

"I thought I had made that eminently clear," said Bennett. "Taylor must be killed."

"Where is he?"

"I can tell you where he was," said Bennett, "but it's a sure bet that he won't be there now. He's not a fool."

"I think you'd better have a talk with Mongoose," Lucas said.

"The agent in charge?" said Bennett. "I can't do that."

"You're not exactly in a position to say what you can or cannot do," said Lucas.

"You don't understand," said Bennett. "I'm an important figure in the underground. I know a great deal about the underground organization. Mongoose would have me arrested and clocked out, so that I could be interrogated. I won't jeopardize the lives of people whose only crime was in saying no to war."

"But you're willing to jeopardize the timestream," Lucas said.

"I told you, I want Taylor stopped as badly as you do. But I cannot allow myself to be taken into custody."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Finn said. "You're already in our custody.''

"Not exactly," Bennett said, producing another laser. Finn started and reached for the first weapon he had taken from Bennett, but Bennett fired his laser on low intensity, singeing Delaney's hand. "I don't want to do it," he said, "but if you force me to, I'll burn you where you stand. Don't forget that I'm a surgeon and I'm quite expert with this laser. Now take that weapon out very slowly and slide it to me across the floor."

Finn glanced at Lucas and did as he was told. As the laser slid across the floor toward Bennett, Lucas moved fast, grabbing Andre and jerking her around in front of him, holding her around the neck, his dagger at her side.

"Drop it or I'll cut her," he said.

The next thing Lucas knew, he was in mid-air and flying across the room. He hit the floor and rolled, coming up in a fighting stance, his dagger held ready. Andre was holding her own dagger by the point, ready to throw it.

"No!" shouted Bennett.

There was a fierce pounding on the door.

"Damn you, Bonacieux!" D'Artagnan shouted drunkenly from outside. "Let me in! I've forgotten my key!"

Nobody moved. The pounding continued, unabated.

"Bonacieux, God curse you! Wake up and open this door!"

From behind a door on the far side of the room, they could hear the old man getting up, mumbling in an irritated fashion.

"Quickly," Bennett said, "put away your weapons!"

Lucas and Andre both sheathed their daggers. She picked up Lucas's rapier and tossed it to him. Bennett, now in possession of both lasers, hid them from sight, but kept them both within easy reach. "Open this door," he told Finn.